LAPIN

The current incitation for achieving sustainable development objectives in building sector contributes to reconfigure the collective innovation processes. The important role played by quality signs (i.e. “labels” in French) in innovation coordination is a major trend characteristic of these evolutions. Thus, labeling in the building sector is a new way of diffusing and making innovation acceptable for the whole range of the actors involved. By labeling products, processes, practices and organizations, a quality sign guarantees the conformity to good professional practices, to regulations, norms and standards all built for the sake of a specific idea of quality, and, thereby, for that of specific objectives for innovation. The LAPIN project has a twofold objective. It aims to analyze the ways in which labeling contributes to shape the dynamics of innovation in the building sector. It also aims to connect the analysis of economic and political modes of collective action in complex environments and specifically in those related to sustainable development. The fieldworks focus on the building sector, in which the number of labels is currently increasing (« Bâtiments Basse Consommation », « Bâtiment bio-sourcé », « Eco-artisans »…). The analysis focuses on France, in order to study in a very detailed way the labeling processes. But this national level is contextualized in an international perspective, mostly at the European level. Indeed, studying labeling in the international environment allows us, on the one hand, to consider labels within their current regulatory context (European directives, international trade, etc.) and, on the other hand, to highlight the historical trends that have contributed, since 1945, to frame what labels are and do nowadays. The project will also study the connections between political and economical processes in innovation by investigating how public policies interact with labeling dynamics. Through case-studies, the project aims to understand how public bodies are involved, directly or not, in the markets shaped by the intervention of labels. Eventually, the project focuses specifically on a category of actors playing a crucial role in the building sector, namely craftsmen working in small and medium companies. The objective is to study the impact of the sustainability objective in labeling on the way these actors build their relationships to the market and thereby transform their skills. The LAPIN project analyzes labels transversally, by study the ways they contribute to shape design and development processes, commercialization, and organizations in the building sector.